There are many reference books for the study of English literature. A few useful ones are listed here; other, similar books will be located near these on the reference shelves.
These books talk about the theme, style, structure, and purpose of literary works. An excellent source to begin with is Magill Masterplots, including:
| R 809 M39 1996 | Masterplots. Rev. 2nd ed. |
| R 809.30097 M39 2000 | Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised edition |
| R 809.3 M39 | Masterplots II: Short Story Series |
Each Masterplots entry is two or three pages long. It gives a summary of the story, with information on the type of plot, time of the action, locale, date of publication, and principal characters. A short critical section following the plot summary talks about the theme, interpretation, style, and technique of the story. There are many different series of Masterplots.
A complete set of all Masterplots is available on CD at the Reference Desk. You can search by title or author and find all the Masterplots entries on that work in full text.
The Critical Survey of Short Fiction is arranged by authors' names and contains criticism of an author's work in general instead of a particular story:
| R 809.31 C86 | Critical Survey of Short Fiction |
There are many books of literary criticism published by Gale. An index to these and other Gale publications is also available online. See Internet Sources below for more information.
| R 803 D56 | Dictionary of Literary Biography (and its supplementary series) |
Although "biographical" in scope, there is substantial analysis of the authors' works. There are over 100 volumes in this series; choose the highest-numbered volume and use its cumulative index (in the back of the book) to find out which volume you need. Some authors are covered in more than one volume; if an author worked in more than one genre, there may be an entry in a volume of poets, an entry in a volume of short story writers, etc. Choose the volume most nearly pertinent to your interest in the author.
| R 810.9 Am3 | American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies |
| R 809.894 Eu7 | European Writers: The Twentieth Century |
Ways to search for articles in Academic Search Premier:
| Search Type | Method | Example | Index Search | Click More, then Indexes, pull down "Headings" from the menu, enter author's name. Check the box next to the name on the resulting list. | Poe, Edgar |
| Index Search | Click More, then Indexes, pull down "Headings" from the menu, enter story title. Check the box next to the title on the resulting list. | Yellow wallpaper, The (Short Story) |
| Keyword Search | Use "AND" between terms | Foster AND India Wilkie Collins AND Poe |
These reference books and sites will explain specialized literary terms that may be found in works of criticism:
| R 801.95014 H31 | A glossary of contemporary literary theory |
| R 803 C18 | A multicultural dictionary of literary terms |
| R 803 C74 | The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms |
| R 803 H73 | A Handbook to Literature |
| R 803 M55 | Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature |
| R 820.3 Ox2 | The Oxford Companion To English Literature |
| R 820.9 C14 | The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English |